The competition includes 10 design teams selected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop proposals for the region in the event of future storm surges.

Teams include urban planners, architects, landscape designers, social scientists and environmentalists, organizer Samuel Carter, assistant director of the Institute for Public Knowledge, told the Advance.

Carter said preliminary presentations of team findings will be given Oct. 28 in Manhattan, New Jersey and online. Further information will be available closer to the date, he said.

During a confab in the Brighton Heights Reformed Church, St. George, some 40 participants heard from expert panels on the social and economic impact of such a storm and the need to adapt to climate changes.

A local panel included the Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality and chair of the Staten Island Community and Interfaith Long-Term Recovery Organization, who discussed, in historic terms, the immigrant groups that have populated shore neighborhoods.

She added that as the area is re-envisioned, "the affordability [of the housing stock] that was there can't be lost."

And while it was pointed out by some team members that there appears to be "no cohesive view" among Sandy homeowners regarding rebuilding and buyouts, it was noted that there isn't always continuity of thought on other issues in other communities.

Whatever the outcome, Rev. Troia said, "The process should be transparent."

Later, the teams visited the hard-hit communities of New Dorp, Midland Beach, Oakwood and Fox Beach.

A public hearing was held in St. Charles School, Oakwood.

HUD and the Rockefeller Foundation selected the teams.

Funding for the initiative is through the federal Community Development Block Grant program.